By NORMA LOVECONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Gov. John Lynch said Thursday he will sign a bill to make his state the sixth to legalize gay marriage as soon as the Legislature makes some changes, which legislative leaders immediately said they would back.
Lynch asked that the already-approved legislation be revised to better protect churches and their employees against lawsuits if their beliefs preclude them from marrying gays.
Gay marriage supporters said they do not object.
"Throughout history, our society's views of civil rights have constantly evolved and expanded," Lynch told reporters. "New Hampshire's great tradition has always been to come down on the side of individual liberties and protections."
Lynch said he personally opposes gay marriage, but decided to view the issue "through a broader lens."
A gay marriage bill and companion legislation were adopted last week, but had yet to make it the governor's desk. Now, they will be held until the changes proposed by Lynch are approved, said Senate President Sylvia Larsen.
Larsen and House Speaker Terie Norelli predicted the Legislature would act quickly to adopt the changes, perhaps as early as next week.
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2 comments:
Actually, what the Cornerstone Policy Research guy is not saying is that Gov. Lynch is a Roman Catholic, and in all likelihood, he has felt some heat from the RC leadership in NH... which is nothing to sneeze at up there. That's probably why he is insisting on the language to protect religious institutions and church organists from lawsuits because he's been led to believe that gay and lesbian couples will sue if they can't get married in RC churches. This is assuming that gay and lesbian couples would ask to be married in the church at all.
Meanwhile, I'm aware of individual Episcopal priests in NH who are happily awaiting the opportunity to officiate at same-sex weddings... just as soon as everybody gets tired of saying how "bad, bad, bad" it is.
Please, with everything that we face economically and environmentally... can't we puh-leeze stop this madness and let people get married if they want to get married?!?! Opponents worry that we're going to force them to perform these marriages in their churches; my goodness, choosing a church is the least of my problems. I have to first choose a state in which to marry my beloved!
New England rocks!
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